The whole point of this blog is to bring some coherence into my ramblings. Mostly poetry, yes. But not quite :)
It always helps to have somebody criticize what I've written. At least THEN you know they've read it ....
You'll find pretty much constant whining here. No, I've still not QUITE grown out of it. Do we ever ?
Never ending grumbles... here we come!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Principles of Success - The Prophet's Way

From a forward email: Food for thought :)

It is a well-known fact that the Prophet of Islam
(PBUH) was the supremely successful man in the entire
human history. But he was not just a hero, as Thomas
Carlyle has called him. According to the Qur’an, he was
a good example for all mankind. He has shown us the way
of achieving supreme success in this
world.

By studying the life of
the Prophet we can derive those important principles
which were followed by the Prophet. In short, the
Prophet of Islam was a positive thinker in the full
sense of the word. All his activities were
result-oriented. He completely refrained from all such
steps as may prove
counter-productive.

First
Principle: To begin from the possible. This
principle is well explained in a saying of Aishah (rah). She
said: "Whenever the Prophet had to choose between two
options, he always opted for the easier choice."
(Al-Bukhari)To choose the easiest option means to begin
from the possible, and one who begins from the possible
will surely reach his goal.

Second
Principle: To see advantage in disadvantage. In
the early days of Mecca, there were many problems and
difficulties. At that time, a guiding verse in the
Qur’an was revealed. It said: "With every hardship
there is ease" (Quran 94:5).This means that if
there are some problems, there are also opportunities at
the same time. And the way to success is to ignore the
problems and avail the
opportunities.

Third
Principle: To change the place of action. This
principle is derived from the Hijrah. Hijrah was not
just a migration from Mecca to Medina. It was to find a
more suitable place for Islamic work, as history proved
later on.

Fourth
Principle: To make a friend out of an enemy. The
prophet of Islam was repeatedly subjected to practices
of antagonism by the unbelievers. At that time the
Qur’an enjoined upon him the return of good for evil.
And then, as the Qur’an added, "You will see your
direst enemy has become your closest friend" (Quran
41:34).

It means that a good deed in return
of a bad deed has a conquering effect over your enemies.
And the life of the Prophet is a historical proof of
this principle.

Fifth
Principle: To turn minus into plus. After the
Battle of Badr, about 70 of the unbelievers were taken
as the prisoners of war. They were educated people. The
Prophet announced that if any one of them would teach
ten Muslim children how to read and write he would be
freed. This was the first school in the history of Islam
in which all of the students were Muslims, and all of
the teachers were from the enemy rank. Here I shall
quote a British orientalist who remarked about the
Prophet of Islam: He faced adversity with the
determination to wring success out of
failure.

Sixth
Principle: The power of peace is stronger than
the power of violence. When Mecca was conquered, all of
the Prophet’s direst opponents were brought before him.
They were war criminals, in every sense of the word. But
the Prophet did not order to kill them. He simply said:
"Go, you are free." The result of this kind behavior was
miraculous. They immediately accepted
Islam.

Seventh
Principle: Not to be a dichotomous thinkerIn the
famous Ghazwa of Muta, Khalid bin Walid decided to
withdraw Muslim forces from the battlefield because he
discovered that the enemy was unproportionately
outnumbered. When they reached Medina, some of the
Muslims received them by the word "O Furrar" (O
deserters!) The Prophet said "No. They are Kurrar" (men
of advancement)."

Those Medinan people were
thinking dichotomously, either fighting or retreating.
The Prophet said no. There is also a third option, and
that is to avoid war and find a time to strengthen
yourself. Now history tells us that the Muslims, after
three years of preparation, advanced again towards the
Roman border and this time they won a resounding
victory.

Eighth
Principle: To bring the battle in one’s own
favorable field. This principle is derived from the Ghazwa
of Hudaibiyya. At that time, the unbelievers were
determined to engage Muslims in fighting, because
obviously they were in an advantageous position. But the
Prophet, by accepting their conditions unilaterally,
entered into a pact. It was a ten-year peace treaty.
Until then, the meeting ground between Muslims and
non-Muslims had been on the battlefield. Now the area of
conflict became that of ideological debate. Within two
years, Islam emerged as victorious because of the simple
reason of its ideological
superiority.

Ninth
Principle: Gradualism instead of radicalism. This
principle is well-established by a hadith of Al-Bukhari.
Aishah says that the first verses of the Qur’an were
related mostly to heaven and hell. And then after a long
time when the people’s hearts had softened, the specific
commands to desist from adultery and drinking were
revealed in the Qur’an.This is a clear proof that for
social changes, Islam advocates the evolutionary method,
rather than the revolutionary
method.

Tenth
Principle: To be pragmatic in controversial
matters. During the writing of Hudaibiyyah treaty, the
Prophet dictated these words: "This is from Muhammad,
the Messenger of God." The Qurayshi delegate raised
objections over these words. The Prophet promptly
changed the word and ordered to write simply Muhammad,
son of Abdullah.

These were the principles
through which the Prophet of Islam gained that success
which has been recognized by historians as the supreme
success.

In the end, I would like to repeat
those ten principles of success:

1.
To begin from the possible2. To see
advantage in disadvantage3. To
change the place of action4. To
make a friend out of an enemy5. To
turn minus into plus6. The power of
peace is stronger than the power of
violence7. Not to be a dichotomous
thinker8. To bring the battle in
one’s own favorable field9.
Gradualism instead of radicalism10.
To be pragmatic in controversial
matters

1 comment:

About Me

I love reading. Arguing about something worthwhile is my favorite pastime. Limericks bring joy to me. I smile at the elderly - and I love playing with kids.
Life is strange. I'd like to decipher it ..and soon. Since it's way too short too!
Religion is my passion..Quran and Arabic are two of the main things I intend to understand soon.. Insha Allah.
I would like to know what quantum computing is ...
Coherent ? Bet not :P